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Topic: Static electricity and system freezing - Page: 1

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Gang -

Last night, the local static caused several system issues. Never, had I experienced this before.

1st, the DAC3 took a hit and VDJ went nuts. Needed to restart the PC.

2nd, the DAC was unresponsive.

3rd, no sound - restart VDJ.

4th, touched the PC case and again, no sound. Restart VDJ.

Advice?
 
Posted Mon 22 Apr 13 @ 10:51 am
I posted about this years ago. Are you walking on carpet?
 
 
I have thought about that. And yes, it is carpet.
 
Take your shoes off.......
 
Make sure all your connections have a ground in the plugs and Only connect all your equipment into a surge suppressor strip. Never directly into a wall outlet, Ever.
 
Seriously, take your shoes and socks off.

Static ruins my touch sensitive jogs, but properly grounding myself barefoot fixes it every single time.

Ta
Mike
 
Hard to work wedding events and high end corporate gigs in bare feet. :)

And everything is grounded via UPS.

Ungrounded laptop system won't be affected... least don't tink so.
 
Here's a trick that I used when I used to work at a video arcade: Anti Static Spray

Spray the carpet lightly in your work area occasionally. A regular spray bottle of water will work almost as well too, but will require more frequent application.
For the home, a better solution is a humidifier, but that is probably as useless as bare feet at a corporate event ;)
 
ewitles wrote :
Hard to work wedding events and high end corporate gigs in bare feet. :)

And everything is grounded via UPS.

Ungrounded laptop system won't be affected... least don't tink so.


Maybe buy some different shoes.......
 
Go to your local electrical supply house and pick up a black insulator mat 2'x4' that electricians use when working on high voltage wiring, that will insolate you. Just roll it up and throw it in the trunk.
 
I posted here years ago about my experience. It only happened during the winter months. If I left the booth, and came back, just reaching for the mouse would reboot the computer. It finally hit me that it was static. Spray water bottle and the problem was gone. I take a spray bottle with me when I do mobile gigs.
 
If you have a faulty 120volt connection on any equipment that would be the best way for you to fry more quickly and smell like a chicken wing in under a minute... Pass the ketchup please.
 
I could have been at the Boston marathon, and been killed. Or sleeping in my bedroom and a sinkhole opens up and kills me. I will take my chances of removing static with a little moisture. Stuff happens.
 
Yeah, but you know water and electricity don't like each other, why make yourself a conduit of a bad reaction...and avoid looking like you got a Don King hairdo..

The rubber mat will be safer, then touch a metal part of any grounded equipment to drain any static remainding on yourself, also wearing a sweater could be a problem while Djin'.
 
Joey I see what you are saying, and we like to give safe advice on the forum. I think the rubber mat is a good idea, but impractical for a mobile situation. That would mean that you would have to stay on the mat at all times. In most venues, the DJ is set up on the carpet. Every time he moves, he creates more static electricity. Goes to the batroom, out to the dance floor, talking to the guess, etc. Discharging on metal, will reboot your machine. I got such a shock just setting up, that I had to spray before I even started to play. We are not talking about soaking the carpet, just adding some moisture to kill the static. This way, there will be no build up, by the time you get close to your equipment. Actualy, I don't know if it was the proximity of the mouse or the machine, as they were close together. I was at least 10 inches from either, and the only way I knew, is because the monitor was on, and I heard it. As for the faulty outlets and equipment, that is another safety issue that all DJs, should be aware of. From past experience, I check all outlets, before plugging in. Every DJ should have an outlet tester with them. You also need to do regular maintenence on your equipment. So, for those of you that are concerned about being electrocuted in front of the bride, do not try my idea. Then again, a frozen block of blue dodo from a plane could come crashing through the roof of the venue and kill you. What's worse is, it will be on someones Facebook page, and Youtube, before the ambulance even gets there. There goes your rep.
 
Yeah, Very funny your last line, but what are the chances or the odds? no one knows, I'd like to lean on the side of caution when it comes to electricity and especially if your a mobile DJ. but for the most part you really don't need it all the time, you'll know if there is an issue while setting up your equipment, then I just pull it out the trunk and it works pretty good. this may not be the best idea ever but it has some solid basis for why I used this method, I'm sure they'll be other ideas to come.. (:
 
Static is caused by electrical charge that builds up and can't escape. It wants to spread out but can't do so unless there is a path through a conductor.

Carpets are not good conductors. DJ equipment is. Water is. An anti-static mat is, but not very effective if only leading to a non-conductor like a carpet; in fact, if being used as an insulator, it can increase the occurrence of static electricity.

During dry months, carpets are especially bad conductors because there is very little moisture in their fibers to conduct electricity. Adding some of that moisture back, makes them as conductive as during the humid months, and unless saturate the carpet, will not cause any more of a safety problem that you would have had using the same equipment during a non-dry month.

Also, discharging on a piece of equipment (including rack rails, monitors, mice, power strips, etc) even on a properly grounded system causes a temporary spike in the charge of your chassis ground, causing any equipment depending on that ground to experience what amounts to a temporary loss of power or reverse in polarity. Some equipment is more resilient to this situation, and the amount of discharge and its dissipation can vary greatly. Grounding straps reduce the effect using a resistor to more slowly dissipate the charge, as well as keeping it from building up in the first place. Same for a properly used static mat.

In short: use common sense when spraying the carpet with water but it does work; don't bother with a static mat unless you plan to ground it (preferably through a resistor.)
 
ewitles wrote :

4th, touched the PC case and again, no sound. Restart VDJ.

Advice?


As an electronics tech/(semi engineer) Static is a very serious thing for us..

I dont know (besides you mentioning the DAC3) exactly what you have for equipment, but you need to find a grounded metal part and then create a discharge point..

IE: run a wire from a known ground (screw on the the back of the UPS) to either the rack or an electronic tech discharge pad. (which is really just a conductive pad made of carbon)

Static electricity WILL find the easiest way to ground, and if that happens to be thru the equipment connections, thats when things go bad..

So you need to create an alternate way to ground your self without blowing things up..

Having said that....
shutting down equipment via static is actually pretty rare.. and many times that indicates that the equipment is NOT properly grounded or the hot/neutral leads are reversed..

 
That is what I was thinking. Actually, grounding everything to the power strip - including the DAC3 case.

Might find some leftover stinkbugs from last September hiding. :)
 
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